The Power of Habit

We are, all of us, creatures of habit, and when the seeming necessity for schooling ourselves in new ways ceases to exist, we fall naturally and easily into the manner and customs which long usage has implanted ineradicably within us - Edgar Rice Burroughs

TLDR; People fall back into habits when they no longer feel the need to learn new things.

The age of even more individuality, specificity and creativity is upon us. In a world of high tech where any repetitive work or easily stolen work (ex. visual or audio media) can be recreated ad-infinitum, individuals need to express themselves in an ever-more unique way to be seen.

I think future-proofing yourself and securing a fulfilling career in the next few years will be based on one's ability to use AI as a tool instead of as a crutch. The hard work of building a business, learning a new skill or doing anything difficult will not go away with AI. It may go faster, it may be more efficient, but good quality work will always take discernment, beauty and skill.

I am seeing a growing change in people who are craving more connection, more community and more honesty. These people are choosing to connect in the community with their time and money. They are choosing to live their life in good relationship with themselves, their families and their land.

For example, podcasts have become a powerful form of new media in the last few years. Podcasts are powerful because they provide knowledge and community building for people. Entire new platforms have arisen from the successful community-building that podcast hosts began. It's amazing because anyone can do it! Yet, some podcasts rise to the top, and some never get past your best friend supporting them. The lassie-faire of podcasting, as I call it - some media is just that much better than others.

But why? Generally, I think everyone knows that the individuality, suspense and storyline is important. Its the first thing we learn about when writing in first grade. I think there's just a little "something more" that's not talked about enough, a type of special sauce that people struggle to tap into.

For those more scientifically minded, feel free to interpret what I say as poetry instead of literal commentary for the rest of the post.

Our individual mindful and heartfelt creation can't be monetized and is the secret sauce.

It's special because even people don't own this beauty. Its a gift that we get to tap into and create through a unique expression of our gratitude for life. Nothing creates music, art or anything worth doing, and its pretty obvious who has it and who doesn't.

No matter what happens in the next 3 years with AGI - or whatever- I'm placing my bets on the lassie-faire of quality and beauty, nature and land, the truly immeasurable things in life that we cannot monetize because to do so would taint the reason why it is beautiful.

Take the story of sweetgrass in the book Braiding Sweetgrass for example, sweetgrass is a gift and was never meant to be sold. Ceremonial elders expect sweetgrass to be donated to them and will not pay for it even when they need more because the essence of the thing is lost when the gift is sold. If we want to remain truly human, truly living a life with meaning we need to tap into our inner capacity for the heart led gift within us that cannot be forced. Using this energy, we'll find the drive to learn, to create and to continue to find meaning even when AI has standardized the monotonous world around us.